Tag Archives: sport weight

Sale Spotlight: Shibui Fern.

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Everything in our shop is 15% off during July, our Annual Inventory Sale! All month, I’ll be shining a spotlight on the yarns we have in stock – today, let’s look at Shibui Fern!

Shibui Fern:

  • sport weight
  • plied, matte
  • 100% organic cotton
  • 232 yards/50 grams
  • $19.50 each

Like all Shibui yarns, Fern is designed to be used on its own or mixed with other yarns for intriguing fiber and color blends. By itself on a US 4, the suggested gauge is 24 stitches over 4 inches.

What to make with Shibui Fern? Here are a few ideas:

Order online for local pickup or shipping via USPS Priority Mail!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges or returns. Thanks!

Sale of the Week: BC Garn Bio Balance!

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We’ve decided to keep our doors closed through the month June, though we’re still virtually open for online orders. As we have done throughout April and May, we’ll have a special sale each week – 15% off a featured yarn, our Sale of the Week!

Our next Sale of the Week is 15% off BC Garn Bio Balance, from June 8 – 13!

Bio Balance is a GOTS certified organic yarn from Danish company BC Garn. It’s a sport weight blend of 55% wool and 45% cotton, a combination that brings the best of both fibers to the yarn. The wool lends elasticity and loftiness to the cool, soft cotton, and the result is a nice balance of animal and plant fibers, and smooth, well-behaved fabric.

This makes Bio Balance an especially good fit for our warm climate here in North Carolina. Here are some patterns to consider:

Usually, Bio Balance is $10 per skein; at 15% off, it’s $8.50 each. Head to our online order form if you’d like to place an order – it’ll be on sale through June 13. Thanks for all your support!

 

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges or returns. Thanks!

Sale of the Week, Virtual Trunk Show: Kelbourne Woolens Andorra!

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Though we have to keep our doors closed during April, we’re still virtually open for mail orders, and we want to offer something fun during this uncertain time. Throughout April, we’ll have a special sale each week – 15% off a featured yarn, our Sale of the Week!

Our first Sale of the Week is 15% off Kelbourne Woolens Andorra, from April 1 – 7!

Andorra is a bouncy sport weight blend of merino and highland wool with a dash of mohair. It’s a wooly, lustrous 2-ply with a medium twist, not too tight or loose, and especially after knitting, it looks pleasantly fuzzy.

Designer Karen Vølund Fechter puts Andorra to good use in her “OneOne Winter Hat,” a stranded colorwork beanie with fetching vertical stripes, which are worked beautifully into the shaping at the crown.

“OneOne Winter Hat” takes two skeins of Andorra, one in each color; the hats in this Virtual Trunk Show are all made with Snow White and a high-contrast pop, which shows the pattern nicely.

Get in touch with us by April 7 to get 15% off Kelbourne Woolens Andorra – thanks so much for continuing to support our small business!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges or returns. Thanks!

New colors in Briggs & Little Sport.

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This unassuming brown paper package hides the bold colors within – four new shades of Briggs & Little Sport!

Briggs & Little Sport is a delightfully affordable single ply wool from Canada, boasting 430 yards on each 4 oz skein.

Its rustic texture means it’s not especially soft to the touch, but it has a sticky quality to it, making it perfectly suited to felting and stranded colorwork knitting. Once knit, the stitches cling to each other, which is handy for steeking, since it takes some serious pulling and stretching for the cut stitches to unravel.

What to knit with Briggs & Little Sport? A Ravelry search showed that knitters are using this yarn for all kinds of colorwork projects. Consider Jennifer Steingass’s “Darkwater,” Ysolda Teague’s “Threipmuir,” Carrie Bostick-Hoge’s “Branches & Buds Pullover,” or Erica Smith’s “Coronal” and “Anstruther” hats. If colorwork isn’t your thing, check out Erica Smith’s “Diode” and “Catenary Sport” hats.

Look for Briggs & Little Sport in the sport weight section here at our shop!

Back in stock: Zauberball.

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Last week brought a colorful box of yarn our way – hello again, Zauberball!

Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball is a single ply fingering weight yarn that slowly changes from one color to the next several yards at a time, so that whatever you’re knitting or crocheting with it comes out striped.

While we were at it, we refilled our baskets of Crazy Zauberball and Starke 6, which are also self-striping, in fingering and sport weight, respectively. The 2-ply construction of these yarns gives the finished fabric a marled look.

All three of these yarns are great for sock-knitting, as they share the same sturdy fiber content: 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon. They’re also well-suited to shawls, however – think “Wingspan,” “Hitchhiker,” and “Daybreak.” Look for more ideas on our Fingering weight and Sport weight Pinterest boards, and come by the shop to scoop up a Zauberball or two!

New colors in Shibui Twig.

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Shibui recently expanded their color palette for Twig, a unique yarn that has become a staple of our sport weight section.

Twig is a slightly textured, sometimes tweedy blend of 46% linen, 42% recycled silk, and 12% wool. Each 50 gram skein has 190 yards, and it knits up at a sport or dk weight gauge into an open, draping fabric.

Twig has a crisp feel and a plant fiber’s tendency to stretch rather than cling, qualities that make it ideal for warm weather garments and accessories like Shibui’s “Slope” and “Tier,” or Churchmouse’s “Simple Tee.” If you like a little more elasticity, consider holding Twig together with Cima, Lunar, or Pebble, as in Shibui’s “Apex” and “Crete,” or Julie Hoover’s “Wintour.”

Look for Shibui Twig in the sport weight section here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop – we hope you find inspiration here!

Hello, BC Garn Bio Balance.

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We’re delighted to announce that our first new yarn for the fall season has arrived! Meet Bio Balance, from BC Garn.

BC Garn is a family-owned, ecologically-minded yarn company out of Denmark. Many of their yarns are certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), so we feel confident that they are produced safely and responsibly, from the fiber to the dye.

Bio Balance is one of those certified organic yarns, a sport weight blend of 55% wool and 45% cotton. This combination brings the best of both fibers to the yarn. The wool lends elasticity and loftiness to the cool, soft cotton, and the result is a nice balance of animal and plant fibers, and smooth, well-behaved fabric.

This makes it an excellent sweater yarn, especially in our warm climate. A browse through Bio Balance projects on Ravelry shows that many knitters use it for sweater-making – here are few patterns to consider:

  • “Tegna,” by Caitlin Hunter – a stockinette tee with lace at the bottom edge
  • “June,” by Julie Weisenberger, of cocoknits – a top-down puff-sleeve pullover
  • “Sanctuary,” by Stephanie Earp – a top-down cabled tee, from Pom Pom Quarterly, Summer 2019 – we still have copies, if you missed this beautiful issue when it first came out!
  • “Kalaloch Pullover,” by Kate Gagnon Osborn of Kelbourne Woolens – an oversized lace yoke sweater
  • “Yume,” by Isabell Kraemer – a top-down lace yoke pullover, with options for short or long sleeves

Because this yarn can be gently machine-washed, it’s great for baby and children’s garments, too:

  • “Wee Envelope,” by Ysolda Teague – a stockinette pullover with a yoke knit side-to-side
  • “Nemo,” by Rebekka Mauser – a textured, color block henley
  • “Hosenmatz,” by Mayumi Kaliciak and Antje Litzmann – baggy baby pants

Look for Bio Balance in the sport weight section here at our shop!

Back in stock: Malabrigo Arroyo.

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Malabrigo Arroyo is back in stock!

This sport weight superwash merino is a favorite around here, and its cubby was looking empty before this week’s shipment arrived.

Each 100 gram skein of Arroyo boasts 335 yards, enough for a scarf, cowl, shawlette, hat, tiny baby sweater, or pair of mitts. Here are a few pattern ideas, projects that knitters on Ravelry have used Arroyo for again and again:

We have two samples at the shop knit with Malabrigo Arroyo, as well – a newborn-sized “Baby Surprise Jacket,” and a “Drop Stitch Scarf.” Though the latter calls for worsted weight yarn on a US 8 needle, I made our sample with one skein of Arroyo on a US 7, casting on an extra pattern repeat to make up the difference in width.

You’ll find Malabrigo Arroyo in the sport weight section here at our shop, and check out our whole selection of Malabrigo yarns while you’re here!

Back in stock: Kauni Effektgarn.

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While we like to keep a decent supply of Kauni Effektgarn on hand, our stock had dwindled recently. Where there was usually a nice selection of colors, from quiet neutrals to bold brights, there were just four or five balls of yarn looking lonesome in their cubby. A shipment arrived this week that brightened up that cubby and indeed, the shop – Kauni Effektgarn is back in stock!

Kauni is a sport-weight, self-striping wool, unique even among its fellow self-striping yarns at the shop for its long stretches of color.

This kind of yarn lends itself to patterns shaped with short rows, like “Wingspan,” “Dreambird,” and “Bermuda Scarf,” where the changing color highlights the construction of the piece.

Kauni Effektgarn is also often used in mosaic knitting and stranded colorwork, like the “Dovetail Shawl” and “Autumn” cardigan. Double knitting and brioche can work nicely with this yarn, too – see the “Rainbow Scarf” and “Humboldt Scarf.”

One of the simplest ways to use Kauni Effektgarn is also one of the most appealing – stripes. When you go back and forth between two different self-striping colorways, you get a mesmerizing stripes-on-stripes effect. So many wonderful patterns use Kauni this way – check out the “Wiggle Wrap,” “Color Wave Shawl,” and “Point Beach.”

We’re thrilled to have these Kauni colors back in stock, and to see what kinds of projects you’ll dream up for them! See you at the shop!

Shibui Sample of the Month: Graphique.

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August is here, and with it, a new Shibui Sample of the Month! We offer a 10% discount on Shibui yarn purchased for our featured sample til the end of the month.

This month’s sample is “Graphique,” a small striped kerchief knit with Shibui Fern. It’s worked in the round, from the center out, in a stripe pattern that makes concentric squares.

Fern is a sport weight organic cotton, with 232 yards on each 50 gram skein. Two skeins is plenty for this little project – just one in each color. Which two would you choose for a “Graphique” kerchief? It looks quite classic in this high-contrast combination, but I’d be interested to see a more subtle version, too.

Come by the shop to before August 25th to see “Graphique” and get Shibui Fern at 10% off to make one of your own!

 

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!